UN warns of food crisis as money runs out for Syrian aid

By
Euronews

The UNHCR is sounding the alarm that it will run out of money to feed a quarter of Syrian refugees in Lebanon within weeks.

UN Under-Secretary General Valerie Amos has been in Damascus to meet with the Syrian Social Affairs Minister and the Red Crescent as all Syria’s neighbours sound similar alarms that they can no longer cope. Ministers in Turkey, Jordan and Iraq say they will soon be unable to give any more, and Lebanon’s plight is acute.

The cash crunch means food aid will have to be targeted from October 1 for Lebanon’s 720,000 Syrian refugees. The UN was promised 1.3 billion euros for them, but only 27 percent has appeared.

Meanwhile as the fighting rages in Syria’s ancient Christian village of Maaloula and its surrounding mountains, al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra fighters have been taking on the Syrian government for control.

They do not appear to lack resources, and a heavy army presence did not prevent them from patrolling in the village, and surrounding a church and a mosque before they left Maaloula on Thursday.